


concupiscble

by Drhair76



Series: Serendipity----(the act of finding something good without looking for it) [2]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, F/M, Good Bro Pepper Potts, Good Wife Pepper Potts, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Minor Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, OT3, Parent Tony Stark, Pre-Poly, Pre-Relationship, Stephen Strange deserves more love, Tony Stark Feels, Tony is a little insecure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 20:56:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drhair76/pseuds/Drhair76
Summary: (adj) worthy of being desired.Pepper could go on and on about the many things that were desirable about Tony. She could write essays, papers, full length novels. She could convince even the most anti Tony Stark person that he was the greatest, but none of that would matter.She could never convince Tony.“Trust me, yeah?” She asked instead. “This is my forte.”





	concupiscble

**Author's Note:**

> okay, so disclaimer, I've never been in a polyamorous relationship. While I wouldn't mind it, I don't have any first hand experience with it, so please please please let me know if I'm being offensive or I got something wrong.

Pepper wasn't an idiot.

In fact, she considered herself to be quite smart.

Maybe she wasn't on par with Doctor Stephen Strange or Bruce Banner, but she _was_ the CEO of a multibillion dollar company, mother of a budding genius and wife to a partial idiot. Who, in his spare time, was also a genius.

Yes, she was still talking about Tony.

Because, no matter how much he may protest it, her husband was an idiot. Not with science or math or engineering or robotics or even logic, no.

His feats in all those fields were unparalleled and he continued to surprise everyone around him whenever he reached new heights.

So yes, Tony was extremely talented.

But he was helpless when it came to feelings.

Concerning everyone else's, he was perfectly capable. He knew from just a glance when Pepper was frustrated with herself, he could tell that Peter felt down just from a single voice crack and he was the best at navigating through Nebula's landmine of emotions.

He was really good at reading people and judging their character and knowing when to keep pushing and when he should stop, but his own _real, personal_ feelings?

Forget about it.

Pepper couldn't count the number of times she's watched Tony falter when presented with genuine compassion or when someone would want to be around him for his personality instead of what he could do for them.

It hurt her heart every time.

She's seen it with Peter, with Bruce, with Carol. She's even seen it with Rhodey, who's known Tony the longest out of all of them.

Recently though, she's seen it with Stephen.

At first she was wary of Strange.

He was, for lack of a better word, strange.

His cloak moved by itself, he had orange sparkling circles glow from his hands and sometimes he spoke in riddles with his friend Wong.

Pepper definitely didn't need another superpowered genius pulling Tony into trouble; he did that enough for himself already.

But then Stephen started dropping by the compound in his spare time.

He complimented Tony's handiwork around the place, bought him coffee, showed him new magic he had learned. (Yeah, apparently magic was a thing now.)

Stephen was a big hit with Morgan, offering to take her on a little portal trips so that she and Tony could relax every once in a while.

And that was what sold her.

Morgan _loved_ him. Whenever he appeared in a portal, her face lit up and she dropped whatever she was doing to greet him.

(It was eerily similar to the way that Tony looked up when strange showed up.)

“Magic man!” She'd cheered and Strange would chuckle.

“I prefer master of the mystic arts, but I guess magic man works too.”

Even the cloak was a welcomed presence. It would throw itself off of Stephen's shoulders and curl itself around Morgan in a hug.

Pepper didn't know that a kid wearing a cloak could be so adorable.

Stephen also respected her, he didn't look down on her for not having powers (as if Tony would allow him to stay around if otherwise), he was always kind and never talked over her, despite the apparent arrogance that followed with his reputation.

Tony clearly didn't know what to do with all the positive attention. He didn't seem to even know what the attention was all about.

“What do you think he wants?”

Pepper spit out her toothpaste and lean out the doorway to see Tony laying in bed blinking up at their ceiling.

“He? You're gonna have to be a bit more specific about that one sweetheart.” She frowned.

Tony hummed in that way that told Pepper that he was still sorting through his own head. His thoughts get jumbled up sometimes. He always had about a million channels open, constantly thinking about a million different things.

Even when he was sitting still, Tony was multitasking.

Pepper could tell part of his mind was on the experiment that he and Bruce were running earlier and part of it was thinking about Morgan, Peter and Harley. She knew there was a channel in there for Rhodey and one for herself.

She wondered if Stephen had one yet.

“Strange.” He replied, he sounded a bit more focused now, focused and sleepy. Pepper really needed to get him to start sleeping more.

She rinsed off her toothbrush and put it away before stepping out of the bathroom. Tony's eyes landed on her and he smiled.

“Shove over.” She gently nudged at his shoulder. He scooted over and opened his arms. Pepper dropped into them and he curled around her. “What is he doing that makes you think he wants something?”

She had an inkling, but she wanted to hear him say it.

“He's just-” Tony paused, gathering his thoughts. “He's nice.”

Pepper hummed, prompting him to continue. She pressed her nose against his neck and breathed him in. He smelled like her shampoo.

“He does things for me. Weird things.”

“Weird how?” Pepper asked, closing her eyes and letting his low voice wash over her.

“He gets me coffee and listens to me ramble about whatever I'm working on and he offers to pay for things even though he doesn't have to.” Pepper felt a twinge of sadness at that. Stuff like this shouldn't be confusing, he shouldn't wonder why someone wanted to do things for him or treat him with decency. “He's just nice.”

“Nice like Carol?”

Tony made a small sound. “Not really.”

“Nice like Harley?”

“Harley isn't nice.” Tony scoffed. “That kid is a snarky bastard.”

Pepper opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, I wonder where he got _that_ from.”

Pepper felt Tony's laugh rumble through her and she smiled.

“Okay, okay.” Tony sighed, a small smile tugging at his lips. “So maybe I've been a bit of a bad influence on him.”

There was small lull. Pepper felt Tony's muscles relaxing and he turned his head so his face was buried in her hair.

“So Stephen isn't nice like Carol or Harley, what about Rhodey?”

“No one is nice like Rhodey.” Tony answered immediately, his voice slightly muffled.

“True.” Pepper had to agree. “Okay, well,” and now came the million dollar question, “is he nice like me?”

Tony paused.

Pepper felt him lift away from her hair and her eyes found his face. He looked conflicted and anxious with his brows furrowed his bottom lip between his teeth.

“You like him.” Pepper says. 

Tony scoffs. “No. I-I don't-”

Pepper watched him sit up, fold his legs and she followed him, now facing him. He fiddles with his hands nervously and Pepper sighs.

She reaches forward and grabs his hands, stopping him from pulling at him hangnails. They locked eyes.

“Tone, talk to me. I'm listening, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere.”

Tony searches her gaze before letting out a shaky sigh, his eyes dropping back to their intertwined hands.“I think I might. But I don't know, he's nice and funny, he's smart and makes me feel good.”

Pepper nods and runs her thumbs over his knuckles. It's obvious to her, he laughs with Stephen, jokes around with him in a way that Pepper couldn't.

“But you? You're perfect. I love you so much.” Tony's eyes find hers and the intensity there is almost overwhelming. “You keep me grounded and make sure that I take care of myself. You know me better than anyone and I can't lose you just because I have a stupid crush.”

“Oh Tony,” Pepper sighed, “your crush isn't stupid. Nothing about you is _stupid._ You just have a crush. There's nothing wrong with that.”

“So, you're not upset with me?”

“No. Of course not.” She refuted. Then she paused. “Do you think you're polyamorous?”

“What's that?”

“It's when you want an intimate relationship with more than one partner.” She explained.

“Isn't that cheating?” Tony asked with a deep frown.

“No, not when there is an open line of communication  and negotiation between all the partners.”

Tony went quiet and Pepper allowed him time to process. She could remember getting the same lesson when her niece came out to her and she wanted to learn all she could to support her and her partners.

“So,” Tony started hesitantly. “You'd be okay with me telling Strange that I think I like him?”

Pepper smiled softly. “Yeah. And I think we should all talk. I think Stephen is a good person and he'd be really good for you Tony. I think he'd be good for all of us.”

“You think I should talk to him?” He asked and Pepper felt something in her soften at Tony's unsure and vulnerable tone.

“Yeah,” She nodded, squeezing their hands reassuringly. “And don't you dare doubt if he likes you, because I know he does.”

“How?”

Pepper could go on and on about the many things that were desirable about Tony. She could write essays, papers, full length novels. She could convince even the most anti Tony Stark person that he was the greatest, but none of that would matter.

She could never convince Tony.

“Trust me, yeah?” She asked instead. “This is my forte.”

Tony hummed. “Yeah, the feelings department. You have that on lock.”

“He likes you Tone. I like you. I _love_ you.” She promised. “And so does Morgan and Peter and Harley and Rhodey and Happy and Carol, and Bruce and-”

“Okay! okay.” He laughed. “I-i get it.”

“Can we sleep now? We have early morning meetings tomorrow.” Tony unclasped their hands with a groan.

“Maybe...you love me enough to cancel them?” Tony asked with an innocent uplift to his voice and Pepper, curling back up next to him, laughed.

“I would if I could honey.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “ I would if I could.”


End file.
